Love Anyways
by Ltldogduff
Summary: *NEWLY EDITED* Lily's relationship with each of the Marauders starting off from the fifth year, and on. Rivalries, romance, and friends.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Love Anyways

Genre: Romance

Rating: K+ (Just in case…I'm a pretty mild writer.)

Summary: Its Lily and James' third year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily is getting extra testy at James because he sent a love letter the day before they went back to school. James, on the other hand, is awaiting an answer from Lily for a little date to Hogsmeade. He is embarrassed to be liking know-it-all Lily Evans, but is determined not to give up until he has gotten his first kiss from his red hair-ed wonder girl.

The story is told through a assortment of diary entries, owl letters, and regular old third-person format.

With no further ado:

_My Dearest Lilykins, _

_How are you? I cannot wait for the day in which I can see your beautiful face again. You are, and you always will be the person I have the greatest affection for…__Oh heck, Lily, this is Sirius. James has given me some very interesting news…look, he…he seems to have affectionate feelings for someone. Someone named Lily Evans. And he seriously debated sending a letter that started out like that! But you can't let him know you know or his heart will be broken with the pain of your rejection. Got it? Good._

_My regards (not), _

_Sirius_

'_Okay…' _Lily thought after she read Sirius' letter, _'James? No way! He would never like me!'_ The Marauders taunting had become almost unbearable after just two years, and then its suddenly 'Oh hi Lily, guess what? I like you and why don't we put all of the bad times behind us?' No. Way. They had hurt her heart, more pain than they meant to happen, probably happened. Even Remus , the nicest of all the Marauders, was rather mean to Lily. But she was grateful for the friend that Remus could bring out of himself when everything seemed to be falling apart. And this is why Lily was softer toward Lupin. Although, of course, he was by no means, anything more to a friend to Lily, and Lily liked it that way.

At that moment, a tawny owl came flying in through her open window.

_Dear Lily,_

I am not about to ask you what Sirius was writing for. Its none of MY business. However, I just really needed to ask you something about it. Did Sirius...did he say something about me? Something you know…personal? Not that I have anything to hide from a clever know-it-all like you. You would probably figure it out anyway. Really soon. Which is why I have to say it now, Lily. Lilykins (do you mind me calling you that?) I LIKE YOU. I know. Its crazy. Why would I like…you? So ofcourse, I'm going to ask you out. Will you, Lily Evans, go to Hogsmeade with me on the first trip there?

And I totally understand that after all I have done to hurt you that you will not love me back. I'm sorry for that and if I do it again…it means only affection. Please accept my sincere apology. I am keeping in mind that you still hate me.

_Love Anyways,_

James 

'_Oh.My.God. This is not possible. No. He called me clever. Clever? That's what James Potter calls himself…every five minutes. God its annoying. And…Lilykins?! He is not serious! Not. Serious. Lilykins…God, I'm going to kill him. And don't forget the all-caps 'I LIKE YOU' what's a girl to do about that?' Lily thought to herself panic arising._

"Lily, dear, are you alright? You look a bit pale." Her mother was surveying her with suspicion in her eyes. Mrs. Evans was a slim woman with red hair with a loose curl, which Lily had inherited. But unlike her mother, she had her father's green eyes. Her and her mother were like best friends, she told her mother everything. So it was only natural for her mother come into her room with a sly smile on her face and snatch the letter from Lily's hands. Lily watched as her mother's expression change from sly to confused.

"Isn't this boy who teases you all the time?" she asked. When Lily gave her answer in a small nod, her mother frowned and replied " I told you about how your father and I met. We started out-"

"Yes, I know, thank you very much…" Lily interrupted her mother, "He started out making fun of you, but then you figured out that the only reason you hadn't moved to Africa by then was because you liked him, and then-oh, what do you know?- he likes you back and you lived happily ever after the end."

Her mom now had a look of hurt surprise on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry. I've just gotten that story too many times for a 12-almost-13 year old should. It's a nice story…but really…James Potter having affectionate feelings toward me is the equivalent of you picking Lord Voldemort to marry instead of Dad. It just doesn't work out." Lily apologized quickly. She meant everything she said, too, for the look on her face was of pure shame and determination.

"You should tell James no, if your sure you don't like him. But people's feelings change, Lily. Maybe you should wait awhile to reject him. You'll be surprised at how sensitive people like that can be."

Lily thought on this. Her mother had a point. She would wait. That would give her a chance to see if this was just one of the Marauder's ideas of a joke, and, though Lily was regretting this, it would give Lily a chance to do as her mother wished and get to know James as more than the pestering git that he was. After promising that she would do this to her mom, she began to pack for Hogwarts. Tomorrow she would be off to school, where she could finally bring out her wand and bury her head in her wonderful new schoolbooks. With a side of minor annoyance from a few big headed boys. But she was determined to not let them get to her, not this year!


	2. Chapter 2

"Lily," then a banging sound "Lily, wake up!" Lily awoke with a start. It wasn't every dream that tells you to wake up. It wasn't a dream at all. She looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was 3:00 in the morning. Lily looked the other way out the window-doored balcony and saw someone on a broomstick. Brow furrowed, she marched through the doors so that she could see better, for it was dark except for the full moon outside. She nearly fell over when she saw who was on the broomstick. It was none other than Sirius Black.

"God, Sirius, you should wait until daylight, at least before waking a girl out of her beauty sleep." Lily scolded him groggily. "Sorry about that, but Lily, James…err James is in trouble!" Sirius spoke with severe urgency in his voice.

"What happened? Will he be alright?" Lily was beginning to panic. It wasn't that Lily was getting worried about James because she liked him or anything…this was James Potter we're talking about, but she was naturally scared for someone if his or her life was in danger.

"He went off to fly his feelings off…was getting pretty worried when you didn't reply to his message. He said he'd be back in half an hour, but it's been three times that long and he still hasn't come back." Sirius said.

"Why did you come to me then?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Because you're the only person available. Remus is in Egypt on vacation, and Peter…I'm not sure where Peter is. He hasn't been very talkative this summer. So will you hop on and help me save James, or what?" Sirius was now getting visibly impatient.

"Oh, fine!" Lily said exasperatedly, "Just no crazy quidditch stunts. I'm not very used to the broomstick."

"Deal." Agreed Sirius, "Now hop on before James dies of age."

Lily rolled her eyes at his boyishness and mounted the broom behind Sirius. It felt weird, holding onto Sirius's waist, but Lily decided that maybe…maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, holding onto a boy's waist…being this close to him…

At that moment, Sirius took a surprising dip, making Lily scream. Sirius grinned (Lily couldn't see his face, but she could tell that he was smiling from his cute little dimples…) _'Wait a second…cute dimples? This is not normal. Not. Normal. Okay, what's Sirius jinxed this time…no he can't jinx anything, we're not in school yet. Then…that couldn't mean…' _But it was true and Lily knew it. She had a crush on Sirius Black. At the same convenient time that James was in danger because she had never replied to his little love letter.

As Lily sat on the back of the broom, pondering, they had come to a sort of wood-y area. How were they supposed to find James in this? As if reading her mind…perhaps from her goggling eyes mixed with an expression of hopelessness on her face, Sirius said, "We're going down lower to look for him. Hold on." And they descended downward into the trees, so they could see James better. The sun was just coming up when he stopped the broom so they could take a break. This gave Lily time to ask Sirius a few questions.

"So," Lily said as they walked together around the small clearing they had stopped in, "Out of the total girlish curiosity that I have, how's James, besides the fact that he's been lost in the woods for several hours?" Sirius smiled at this. '_Awww,'_ Lily thought, '_His smile's even cuter from the front!'_

"Your not a girl." Sirius said evenly. "Oh, right I forgot, I'm an alien life form." Lily said back, rolling her eyes. Sirius gave her a quizzical look, and she laughed. "I almost forgot, you're not muggle-born." Sirius continued to look confused, so she continued, "Muggle scientists think there is life up in space…you know, on the planets. An alien is what they call it." Sirius's look turned from confusion to amusement. "Have they had any luck?" he asked. Lily gave him a do-I-have-to-answer-that-question-because-its-seriously-obvious look and he answered with a smile and a shrug.

Lily was just about to ask him how James was again when they heard a moan. They looked up into the branch above them and saw James in it, his broomstick, she saw, had fallen into the crook of a branch, and besides a few scratches, it seemed okay to ride. James himself…he didn't look so good. He had scratches and bruises all over his visible body parts.

"Sirius…he can't go on the train like this!" Lily said. She was scared for James. She just was. He looked really banged up.

Sirius on the other hand called up to James, "Erm…James? What hurts?"

"Everything." He groaned.

Sirius looked at Lily, and for once in a lifetime, the mischievous glint had left his eye. He looked scared. He was looking to Lily for help. Lily gave her newfound crush a reassuring smile, and then called up to James, "Its okay James, we're going to get you down, and then see about getting you onto the train to Hogwarts."

At the sound of her voice, James lifted his head up an inch or so and said "Lily, what are you doing here?"

"Look James, just stay put, we're going to get you down, and…" Lily stopped mid sentence with a new thought that had her stumped. How were they to get back? James was by no means in a condition to ride a broomstick, so Sirius would have to take him passenger. But then that would leave her to ride James' broom.

Sirius had silently begun to carefully pull James from the tree, leaving Lily just standing there.

Lily started to help as well. She moved his arm around her shoulder, and Sirius had the other one around him.

"Sorry about this, James." Lily said before pulling forward, Sirius at her side, together they pulled a grumbling James off of the tree branch. Once off, he stood up with great difficulty.

"There we go, see, he's tough!" Sirius said, as though to say 'I was never really scared' But Lily could see right through the comment of reassurance (Although, he was probably trying to reassure himself more than anyone else…)

Lily, with no choice, now grabbed James' broom from where it had landed when they pulled James down. She mounted it. In front of her, the straw on the end of the broom was sticking out every which way. Behind her, in golden letters, Shooting Star 23 had been engraved.

To her right, Sirius was laughing hysterically, and even though it caused James obvious pain, he couldn't help but give a hearty chuckle.

"What is so funny?" Lily asked them, in that you-are-so-stupid voice that she had developed over the last couple of years. Although, she felt like the stupid one in this situation.

This, however, only had made it worse. Sirius was rolling on the ground laughing, with tears in his eyes, and James was doing the same, minus the rolling…he was leaning on a tree for support.

"Say James, looks like we need to give her a flying lesson…" Sirius said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Hey! She's not going _anywhere_ on that broom, especially if she's the one controlling it." James replied quickly.

Lily now was confused. Why were they laughing at her? Had she something on the back of her pajama trousers? She brushed her hand behind her back in a loose careless way. Nope, all clear.

"Flying tip number one," James said, walking over to her and pulling his broom out from under her. For the first time, she noticed he had a slight limp. He must have twisted his ankle when he wrecked. When he saw Lily staring at it, he gave her an its-fine look and continued, smiling, "Mount the broomstick."

Lily still looked confused, and made sure he knew it. She had mounted the broomstick. Yeah. Hilarious. Whoopdeedoo.

James tried hard to conceal his laughter by continuing matter-of-factly "The least you can do is mount it the right _way_!" And they started laughing all over again.

The comment hit Lily like she had just ran headlong into a tree. Of course! Why had she forgotten that?

"Well…" Lily said. She had better not say anything about flying, or they would start laughing all over again, so she continued, "How else are we supposed to fly back?"

James was now looking at her with a combination of pity and amusement.

"Step away from the broom." He answered, not blinking, staring at her all the while.

She did as he said. Partly because he now had such a vicious look on his face that she was genuinely scared, and partly because it was rightfully his broom, so she sort of had to do it, didn't she?

He walked over to it, and mounted it.

"James," Sirius said, "Are you sure you can fly? I mean…you just wrecked into a tree, man. Ride with me, buddy," but James had already gone towards the house.

"Well!" Lily said, surprised. She had never, in her life seen anyone act like that…Except maybe the cheesy scary-movies that her parents watched sometimes. "What was that all about?"

"I personally would not like to find out." Sirius replied. He, too had never seen anyone (or at least James) behave that way before. He mounted his broom, (The right way) and gestured for Lily to get on behind him.

"My family will send my things, James knows that I'm taking you back, I guess. He'll be sure to tell my parents to send my trunk to school." Sirius said over the wind as they soared off into the depths of the early-morning sunrise.


	3. Chapter 3

Before she knew it, Lily was back at her house with Sirius. She motioned for him to come along as she crept back into her bedroom. Relieved to see that no one had noticed that she had gone, she smoothly got into her bed, being careful that no floorboards creaked. Sirius had come in and was just standing there, amazed; clearly the ceiling fan had caught his eye.

"What does it do?" He whispered in awe, his eyes shiny and wide.

"It keeps you cool. I suppose we don't usually have a use for them at Hogwarts, but I doubt that there'd be any there, even if it ever got hot inside that place." She answered, being extra careful to keep her voice down low.

"Yeah," Sirius replied. "And this," he pointed to the record player. "What does it do?"

"Music." Lily replied with a wave of the hand.

"Whoa," he laughed, pointing at the poster of a kitten on her wall. "Muggles actually like this sort of thing?"

Lily reddened, though no one could see it in the dark as she walked over to stand by him. "Most of them do, mine's just there because it would look very suspicious if a muggle were to come into my room and find a poster of the Hippogriffs' new hit single. I have to keep some cover,"

_Not bad, Evans, not bad at all…_ She didn't pride herself in lying skills, but she could do it pretty well, however, not to Sirius.

"Ah," Sirius replied. But they both knew that that wasn't the truth. "Since when do you lie to _me_?"

Lily bent her head down so she wouldn't meet the eyes that matched the disappointed voice. "Since I hated you…all of you!"

Now that was an oxymoron of a lie. Well, alright, it was halfway true, because until riding on the back of a broomstick with the guy, well, they hadn't exactly been best friends. _Okay, Lily, you can stop with the fibbing now…_

At that remark, Sirius turned around.

"I'm sorry," he said abruptly.

A silence followed. Hurt, and shame from both Sirius and Lily followed. This is a good thing, because without this silence, she would not have heard footsteps coming down the hall.

She motioned shyly for Sirius to follow her.

Lily's mother came in at that point, a horrified look soon caressing her face.

"Oh, no, mum, it's not what you think!" Lily was quick to jump into action.

"Then what _is _it?" Her mother was growing angry. _Crud. _Lily thought grudgingly.

Lily took a deep breath. She couldn't hold it off. "Mum, at about 3:00 this morning, Sirius was outside at the balcony on a broomstick, asking me to help him go save James. We found him in a tree,"

Her mother looked skeptical. "And you brought Sirius home with you?"

"Because he wouldn't have time to go home, and he'd miss the one-way train to Hogwarts, mummy! I was doing what was best," she pleaded.

"Why didn't you tell me though? I could've helped," her mom tried to find a way through the story, outrageous; Lily began to realize, as it sounded.

Through the argument, Sirius stayed silent, but now he spoke up. "Because I told her not to. I didn't want her to disturb her parents, and I needed Lily to help me find James and help him and if you didn't let her go, I didn't know what I'd do!" Sirius was sticking up for her. Lily found gratitude like never before enter her body.

Her mom seemed to truly see Sirius for the first time. "Ah," She was looking him over. He had on robes like most wizards wore, just plain, well, Black. His hair was long and shaggy, sticking up in all directions and the broom ride hadn't helped at all. The boyish glint in his eye made someone who saw him automatically want to smile and shake his (or her) head. Her mother gave a sharp nod of approval. "You better get ready," she said icily and automatically left the room.

Lily felt bad that her parents didn't understand the magical world. It took them a lot of convincing to believe it and let her go to Hogwarts. Now she felt that this would just confuse her mother more. She was forlorn that her parents couldn't understand as they couldn't learn, but she tried her best to help them when she could. She wished with all her heart at that moment that her mom would understand it, so she wouldn't be so confused.

Lily didn't look at Sirius for a minute. "Yeah, we'd better get ready," he finally said awkwardly, and asked where the toilet was. She pointed to the door across the hall and went to pick out something to wear. Not that that was hard. All she had to do was put on jeans and a t-shirt and she was ready. She had taken a shower the night before, and blow-dried her gentle curls as not to end up late the next day. Lily realized for the first time that she had gone the whole way and back in her pajamas and felt a hot blush growing on her cheeks. _Uuugh…_she thought, embarrassed.

She looked at her reflection in a mirror on the wall, and understood part of the reason why her mother was so startled. Her hair was stringy and unkempt-looking, and she had smudges of dirt on her face. She looked like she'd been in a wrestling match. She smiled knowingly; at least now she had an answer.

"Good day, Lily?" Sirius had strolled in, seeing her smiling at herself. Lily turned sharply and scowled.

Sirius looked bored. "Like I haven't seen that one before," his boyish features plainly proclaimed.

Instead of having a go at him or rolling her eyes like he wanted her to, she marched off to the bathroom to brush the tangles out of her hair and wash her face. She was about to brush her teeth with her spare toothbrush, when she saw a bit of still-wet toothpaste on it.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" Lily roared, aggravated. Oh, this crush was so over: so much for one on _him_.

It disgusted her that she'd liked him for a minute. Partly because, well, he was Sirius, and partly because she'd made a promise to her mother to give James a chance, not Sirius. She was also disgusted at how quickly she moved through guys.

Truthfully, she'd never really liked anyone before this. But she was glad it was over. Look what it made her do! It was the equivalent of being Imperious-ed in her opinion.

But she had a mysterious feeling that all it would take was for him to treat her for a ride on the broom with him and she'd like him all over again.

"LILY, OPEN THE DOOR!!" Apparently Petunia had woken up. She was banging- KONK, KONK, KONK, -on the door.

"Petty…"she whined, opening the door, only to be pushed back in, hard.

Petunia's bony face and short bob greeted her, locking the door behind her.

"Who's the boy?" she squealed.

"A friend. Sort of. Um. From school." Lily stuttered.

"Someone that hot goes to your school?" Petunia shrilled incredulously.

"Sure, yeah…"

Petunia became disinterested immediately. "You can have him. Anyone who goes to that freak school of yours can't possibly fulfill _my_-" she put huge emphasis on 'my' "needs,"

Lily nodded. She wanted to be angry, but for some reason, she couldn't seem to find any anger to be. She just felt quite depressed. She'd never been mean to Petunia, but Petunia found it necessary to be mean to her, because she got to go to a nice boarding school far away and Pet had to stay and go to Public school there.

"Out, I need the bathroom," She pointed to the door. For once, Lily obeyed.


	4. Chapter 4

Lily walked downstairs to find that her father was giving Sirius that talk. The talk that the lustful girl can only desperately await the end of; the fraternally vital one that all dads have given. Lily wanted a hole to swallow her up and eat her forever. She would never survive this. Sirius was sitting up straight on the couch, staring at her father as he paced back and forth in front of him.

"How old are you, son?" Her dad interrogated suspiciously.

"A mere boy of 127,"

"Do you do well in school?"

Sirius hesitated for a moment. "No, sir."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"16, sir, all of which are at least a year older than I."

"Do you like Lily?"

"As I said, I aim for the older ones, sir."

"As a friend, then. Do you like my Lily as a friend?"

"Actually, sir, her regard for the rules annoys me."

"And your name again?"

"Sirius Black,"

"Are you from around here?"

"Not…not exactly, sir."

Lily's mother came to the rescue at that point. "Breakfast everyone. Sirius, I insist that you join us," Grateful to her mother, both for stopping the interrogation that was threatening to send a wave of giggles from Lily, and that her mother had dropped her ill-temperament towards Sirius, Lily and Petunia made their way towards the door to the kitchen. She was sure she heard her dad beam, "He's perfect!" with a good-humored smile and whisper consolingly to her mother, "I approve,"

Sirius apparently heard this, too, and gave her a sideways glance, to see how she felt about this. She didn't feel like showing him EXACTLY how she felt about that, particularly since she didn't know, and so she put her head down very quickly and began stuffing her face with toast and eggs.

And so that morning they left for King's Cross, all in good spirits, except for, of course, Petunia, because she just couldn't bring herself to be happy about anything to do with Lily except maybe just that she was leaving.

Lily kissed her mum, her dad, and took Petunia aside and told her to write, and that she didn't want to cause her dislike, and that she wanted to know about everything that's going on, at which Petunia only scowled and said that she shouldn't expect her to follow that order.

Sirius had long since found James with his trunks and after politely thanking her parents, left through the barrier. Lily ran in, and quickly found her seat with her best friend, Emmeline Vance.

Ever since then, Lily always seemed to find herself and even Emmeline tied up in the adventures with the four boys who called themselves the 'marauders'…and that's the way it started.

Later in her third year, James had just gotten over things with Sirius and going to her house and everything, but after assurances from both that nothing was going on between them, he resumed to be his usual, arrogant self. Lily found that if she was giving him a chance just by joining in on such missions, and therefore, keeping her promise to her mother.

Some guy that Lily didn't know soon entranced Emmeline, and she gushed over him so much, that Lily was going more and more to Sirius and the other Marauders for the regular sort of friendly things. James tended to join in a little less, and ever since that letter, when it was just them, it was unbearably awkward, but he still consented for Lily and Emmeline to help them in their mischief as long as the girls didn't get into trouble. The only time they weren't around to help was when they proclaimed that they needed 'man time' once a month. And so they did.

One day, Sirius was cheering Lily up, after having a complete conversation with Emmeline about whether or not that guy really liked her, as they were walking by the lake.

And that was when he said, "Lily, have you ever considered that maybe she really likes this guy, and that you could learn a thing or two about the signs that one likes you, because, some certain people have been sending some, and you've been absolutely oblivious to that."

Lily was speechless. She didn't know what to say, and she didn't quite know what to say to this, but it left her thinking about so, until Emmeline was having another long talk about it, when Lily asked, "What are the signs that a guy likes you?"

"Well, they usually try to catch your eye in that accidentally-on-purpose sort of way, and they stare at you, and they like to comfort you and help you. Unless they're shy. Then they stutter and jarble up sentences so much you can't understand them." Emmeline said matter-of –factly. "But what brought this upon you? Do _you_ like someone?" She asked, hungry for details.

"Well…" and so she told Emmeline everything about Sirius.

"Well, I think it's blatantly obvious what he was trying to say, especially someone as clever as Sirius is." And when Lily continued to look confused: "He wants you to choose between him and James."

And so Lily went to bed that night, thinking of how impossible it could be to choose. Sirius might want her to think on it, might want her to wait, and might not want her to rush. But Lily had a feeling he'd want it sooner than later. She was thinking of all of these things, staring out the window, when there was a darkened figure walking along the shore of the lake that got her attention. She knew without having to study them who it was. She needed to do this. She put on a sweater and comfy pants on under a cloak and began to walk decidedly over to the lake where the figure stood, skipping rocks across the surface.


	5. Chapter 5

The crisp air met Lily with a harsh bite and she pulled her cloak tighter around her as she walked across the ground. The figure was now leaning against the tree that he was skipping rocks at just about five minutes ago.

She saw the familiar windswept hair and athletic figure that told her who it was.

"Hello," she uncertainly greeted him, feeling as though she was intruding on him.

"I was hoping you might see me down here," he smiled awkwardly.

Lily walked up and sat down beside him. "Yeah, I figured that."

"What kept you up?"

"Ah, just um, thinking…about…"

"-What Emmeline told you." He matter-of-factly answered for her.

"Potter, how did you know?"

"Well, uh, I'm _only_ James Potter, Lilykins. I have my ways,"

"I should've known…and will you _please_ stop calling me that?!"

"Yeah, well…I knew you'd figure it out one way or another. We both know you're too smart for me, and I'd prefer not to stop calling you so,"

"Smart, but not clever like you. There's quite a difference, and you should go back to calling me by my surname, Potter," She said the last word as though to demonstrate how it was done.

"Yeah, well, I still have a long way to go…and I love you too much to call you 'Evans' you're more than 'Evans' because you're Lilykins,"

"So," Lily couldn't keep gnawing at the edges. She had to go for the middle.

"And I take it you've thought about it?"

"I wouldn't be here right now if I hadn't! Look, Potter-"

"-Please, my sweet, call me James,-"

"-Right, Potter. Picking one of you? ONE?! You're both equally arrogant and boyish for that matter. By doing so, not only would I make the other jinx me every time I walk down the hall for the rest of my life, but I'd ruin your and Sirius' friendship as well. I like you both the same, for now, and I'd appreciate it if things went back to normal."

"Er…oh,"

"Potter?"

"You just live to make things difficult, don't you, Lilyk-" He sighed, defeated. "Evans?"

Lily smiled. "I believe so,"

They both stood, their mission completed.

"Love anyways?" Lily stuck out her hand. James shook it. "Love anyways."

And so the Marauders all went on with their lives, and resumed the taunting between classes, the hexes when she didn't expect it, and the showing off to anyone who would watch, now that Sirius and James stopped being so competitive.

"Hey Evans," Sirius called from behind her. She spun around, her curtain of red hair billowing around her.

"What? Here to do another horridly inaccurate imitation of me?"

"No,"

"Transfigure me into a…" she thought for a moment. "…Fish, then,"

"Er…no,"

"Then what?"

Sirius smiled gleefully. "Both of them!"

And he ordered, "Aguagillis!" so that poor Lily was found flopping pitifully on the ground, and then began to jump up and down and raise his hand, with such a goofy smile that a lot of passerby laughed.

"You idiot! What have you _done_?!" Emmeline had come to Lily's rescue. Sirius made to do the same to her, but she acted quickly, shouting, "Levicorpus!" so that Sirius was dangling upside down by his left foot.

Professor Slughorn walked by at that point. "Detention, Black! And kindly re-transfigure Miss Evans back into human form." Sirius huffed in a mock-disappointed way, and then put Lily back to normal. As soon as she was right, she ran at him, slapping and hitting anything she could reach. "BLACK, YOU IDIOT, YOU ABSOLUTE GIT! NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY I HATE YOU?? NOW DO YOU?!"

Professor Slughorn looked rather taken aback. Remus was trying to restrain Lily and pull her off of Sirius, who she had knocked to the floor. James was over there trying to help as well, and Peter just stood there stupidly.

Emmeline wasn't helping at all, for she was yelling right on with Lily. She'd let Sirius down after finding the new thing to do. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING YOU ARROGANT LUNATIC? NO WONDER SHE HATES THE LOT OF YOU!"

And it continued this way until Slughorn finally ranted, "ENOUGH!" at which time anyone who was in the sector looked up in alarm, even Lily stopped hitting Sirius long enough for Remus and James to peel her off of him.

"Miss Evans and Miss Vance will join you, for loud, disruptive behavior and violence."

And waddled away, leaving James and Remus each holding an arm

"Lily, don't do this, he was just in for a bit of good fun," James pitifully tried to reason with her.

"You call that 'a bit of good fun'? Are you raving mad?! I couldn't breathe! He tried to kill me!"

Peter was helping a bruised Sirius up. He had red marks on his cheeks from being slapped and a bloody lip. He was looking sheepish, like he had just woken up in the middle of a corridor and didn't know exactly why. He looked at Lily with such unsureness that she nearly started screaming at him all over again, but it was Remus who spoke. "Come, Lily, take a walk with me," and as she opened her mouth to retort, "No buts."

And he led her off into the courtyard by the wrist.

"Let GO of me!" Lily twisted her wrist around as Remus stood there, unwilling to let her go, for fear that James would be next.

"Will you calm down, if I were to let go of you?" he reasoned.

She huffed something that sounded like 'fine!' He let go of her wrist, and they walked around the chilly courtyard.

"Lily, as much as I don't approve of James and Sirius picking on you all the time, I don't believe that Sirius meant any harm to you when he did that. And you did say that you wanted things to go back to normal…so they took it literally. You cannot blame them."

"Yes, Remus, I began to realize that, but the fact still remains that I could've died! He mayn't have meant me any harm but that has yet to mean that what he did was anything forgivable!" Now Lily was the one reasoning.

Remus stopped and stepped in front of her, putting his hands casually on both of her shoulders so she could see the serious look in his eyes. "_I know. _Lily, believe me, I know, but the reason I wanted to talk to you was that I needed to tell you that this is just the beginning. There's going to be things far worse than this. You need to understand how. James and Sirius will continue to be this way. You haven't chosen between them."

"Er…can I skip the stupid choosing? I don't want either of them…what happened to things going back to the way they were, that includes between those two!" she complained.

"What happens, happens, Lily. I wanted you to know that if you ever need to talk-as a friend, I daresay-I'm here when you need me," Remus assured her comfortingly.

They continued to walk around the courtyard.

"Yeah, well, I need you now." She desperately pleaded.

"For what?"

"To get those two gits off my back on this whole choosing thing,"

"I tried,"

"Please try again? For me?"

"Yeah, alright," He gave in easily.

Lily's eyes widened in realization. "Remus, how did you know about the choosing?"

"The same way that James knew about it, the same way that Sirius and Peter did. We were there, but telling you exactly how would just ruin all the fun." He smiled mischievously.

Lily didn't need the details. She'd look this stuff up later.

"I think I'm calm enough to be around other people now," Lily said, feeling quite a lot better, now that she knew that some things were looking up.

"Okay," Remus agreed. Ushering her back in.


	6. Chapter 6

A good amount of teasing, hexing, and trying to kill each other later, it was finally just a month until they were going home for the summertime for the Marauders and Lily and Emmeline. The weather was breathtakingly captivating as their exam time rolled around. It was all they could do for the stressing students to keep their minds on their studying and not on the fresh air just out the window. Many took refuge in the classrooms with no windows so that they wouldn't be so tempted.

One who seemed immune to the stress over exams was Lily Evans. Because she'd already known each of the notes she took that year forwards and backwards, she would stroll the grounds looking for something to explore. She'd already become familiar with every square inch of the grounds, and had now taken to adventurous treks deep into the Forbidden Forest.

It was dusk on one of those days that she'd nothing to do again and didn't feel like going on a hike that there was an owl perching at the window of her dormitory. Curiously, she took the note from the owl's leg, gave it a pat on its tawny head, and rapidly read the letter:

_Lily,_

_You and Emmeline meet us in the Astronomy Tower at 10:00 this evening. Come armed. –M.W.P.P._

She hesitated. She disliked them to the greatest degree before hatred, the person keeping it below hatred being Remus.

And yet…

What did she have to lose? They couldn't get into bad trouble, just detention, if they were caught. She may dislike the Marauders, but she needed a change in atmosphere. She yearned for some suspense, and the rustling of leaves behind her in the forest weren't cutting it.

She left the dormitory in search of Emmeline, only to be stopped short on her way out the door by Emmeline herself. Lily thrust the letter at her and they met eyes with a look of knowingness. They didn't need to say that they were in.

They talked little as they piddled around the castle together, each girl deep in her own thoughts. Ten o'clock just couldn't come quick enough, but finally it was time to walk up, up, up to the Astronomy tower, and they still had time. But luckily they could start early since the boys were there even before them, all on their toes and ready to go.

"Well?" Emmeline inquired excitedly.

Each of the boys looked to one another. "We need your help," Peter had spoken, for once in his tagalong life.

"What?" Lily had to admit that she was disappointed. She couldn't hide it. She had expected a sort of adventure, not a bunch of errands.

"Don't look so down. There's a tree there-" James pointed down to an ugly, knarly, tree that looked to have been literally twisted down on the grounds.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what it _does_?" Sirius asked, annoyed.

"Err…correct me if I'm wrong, it provides shade, sheds leaves, and sits there," Lily said sarcastically.

"See for yourself," Sirius challenged with such a superiority that Lily wondered for a moment what exactly she was getting into. But hey, it a challenge, and she needed something to occupy her.

"You're on," Lily agreed.

So all of six of them made their way back down to the grounds, illuminated by the half moon, until they were right in front of the tree.

"Right, Lily, try to touch the trunk," Sirius was enjoying this. Oh, he was enjoying this more than anyone could say.

And so she walked towards it, but as soon as she came within its shadow, it came at her, literally came at her. It grabbed her around the waist and brought around in the air, down, then up, and then down again, hitting her on its other branches along the way. She was too scared to scream.

With quick senses and a calm gesture, Remus called "Accio, Lily!" And he brought her flailing out of the grasp of the tree.

"That was mean," he muttered, staring down at his shoe. He didn't like to scold his friends, but he didn't want to be the one tricked into going to face his near-death.

Lily sat there, on the ground for a moment, stunned. She couldn't move, she could barely even breathe. It was as though she had been turned to stone.

"Lily?" Emmeline said unsurely.

"She's in shock," Peter's voice came from the darkness.

Emmeline walked over to Lily, and held her hand out to touch her shoulder. She jumped at the contact, but then relaxed seeing it was Emmeline. She collapsed into her best friend's arms, shivering, even though it was warm out.

Sirius felt a pang of pity for Lily, but just as quickly as it had come, it was gone once again. He and the other boys walked to where the girls crouched, forming a protective circle around them.

"Does it really just 'sit there', Lily?" Now it was Sirius who spoke, with a hint of a smile.

Lily took a shuddering breath. "You win,"

"So what do you need with the…" Emmeline searched for the right word, but eventually just settled with: "thing?"

"We need to know how to make it stop doing that," Remus said matter-of-factly.

"Why can't you just do it?" Lily breathed reproachfully.

"People won't get suspicious with _you_ looking for information on murderous trees, but they'll think _we're_ up to something," James explained.

"Aren't you though?" Emmeline asked.

"We have permission from a superior," Sirius said, puffing out his chest.

"But yet you're worried about people thinking it's suspicious," Lily had regained her composure after a few more shuddering breaths.

"They asked us to keep it quiet, but we need your help," Peter spoke.

"Okay," the girls agreed. Emmeline and Lily immediately went to the library, followed by the boys, who were more than willing to help.

"Herbology…herbology…trees…" Lily spoke quietly under her breath as she ran her finger over the books until she found one, _Magical Trees and Their Uses._

She looked in the glossary until she found just what she was looking for. "Here it is: The Whomping Willow is known for its way of protecting itself. Whenever someone gets close to it, it tries to kill him by means of its branches. They natively grow in the West quadrant of Spain, but one can find them all over the world."

"Does it say how to make it stop trying to defend itself?" James asked her.

Lily held up her hand and continued reading. "While many believe that a simple immobilizing charm will make it vulnerable, the best way to do so is to find and press upon its single Freezing Knot, which will freeze the tree for exactly one minute."

"So all we needed to do is push a knot and it will stop trying to kill us? It's that easy?" Sirius asked, in awe.

"Seems so," Said Emmeline, who was reading over Lily's shoulder.

"But the question is, how are you going close enough to the knot so that it doesn't kill you?"

"We've gotten that part figured out," Remus said with a knowing glance at each of the other Marauders.

"Well?" Lily said impatiently.

"Ask us no questions, we'll tell you no lies, Evans. Your services are no longer needed, thank you," James said coolly.

"Uh, no. We came this far only to be told that you were using us?" Emmeline snarled angrily.

But the boys just stood there, both girls fuming furiously. "Just don't expec-" Sirius clapped a hand over Lily mouth. "SHHH! Do you want to be discovered?"

She bit his hand, hard. "Just don't expect us to do your dirty work next time." She whisper-yelled.

And she turned on her heel and walked out, being sure to slam the door behind her and Emmeline and taking the long way around to the Astronomy tower.

"Where are we going?" Emmeline was jogging to keep up with Lily's speed-walk.

"If they won't tell us what they're doing, then we're just going to have to find out for ourselves, then." Lily matter-of-factly explained.

"Right. But what if-" Emmeline got tired of running and spun Lily around. "But what if they already suspect that. You have to make them believe that you've forgotten everything about it." Emmeline had a point.

"You're right," Lily gave in. "They just make me so mad sometimes. I wasn't thinking,"

"It's alright, Lily. Let's go to bed. And remember, tomorrow, you're over it." Emmeline reminded.

And the two girls hurried off to their dormitories unseen.

A/N: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling comes out tonight at 12:00am.

WAHOO!! )

Please R&R!

-Ali


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